Mrs. Jaya Indiresan

Jaya Indiresan was educated in Madras University where she was awarded the university gold medal in psychology. She has an M.Phil. from the same university and a Ph.D. from IIT, Delhi. She has taught in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, in the Technical Teachers’ Training Institute, Madras and at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. She has been a visiting professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada, and a Jean Campbell Scholar at the Centre for Education of Women at the University of Michigan, USA. Currently, she is a consultant to several national and international agencies including the University Grants Commission, Educational Consultants India, Ford Foundation, Swiss Development Cooperation, the World Bank, The British Council, the Commonwealth Secretariat, DANIDA and the Asian Centre for Organisational Research and Development.

Her research interests include institution building with particular reference to students, faculty and administrators in higher education. She has been involved in several cross-cultural studies comparing education systems in the UK, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Malaysia, Japan, Canada, USA and India. She conducted a national research project on “Moving Beyond Access: Gender Positive Initiatives in Women’s Colleges” to examine the role of women’s colleges and universities in promoting the development of women students and the implications of training for women in educational leadership. She has over sixty research papers published in national and international journals, several research monographs, chapters in books and she has recently published the book Education for Women’s Empowerment. She has guided several Ph.D. and M.Phil. students.

She has extensive experience in designing, developing and conducting executive development programmes. She conducted an executive development program for the entire faculty of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute at Mauritius. She is currently involved in organizing and conducting a major initiative of the University Grants Commission for Capacity Building for Women in Higher Education Management.

She is also involved in several developmental initiatives with particular reference to women. She has undertaken major research projects on women in police, women in agriculture, health awareness of adolescent girls etc. A book based on the study of policewomen titled “What is holding back women in uniform?” is under preparation. She is active in projectisation of utilising EDUSAT (the new Indian satellite dedicated to education) for Women’s Development.

She has traveled extensively, presented papers in several international conferences and participated in workshops. She is married and has two daughters and a son. Her hobby is cooking.